Kinders struggling with uncertainty of funding amid ward of words between governments

A WAR of words has broken out between the state and federal governments over pre-school funding, as kindergartens struggle to deal with the uncertainty around year-to-year cash negotiations.

EARLY Childhood Education Minister Jenny Mikakos has accused her federal counterpart of holding families to ransom by refusing to commit to ongoing pre-school funding.

Her comments come as the Commonwealth Government announced $440m enabling kindergartens to offer 15-hours-a-week programs until the end of 2019.

When asked why the funding was only for one year federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the government was not going to “give the states a blank cheque when they’re failing to actually get the kids who can benefit most to turn up to the pre-school”.

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Ms Mikakos accused the Liberals of holding families to ransom with the one-year funding offers.

“Victorian mums and dads — and kinder operators — are still being short-changed by Birmingham’s on-again, off-again funding deals when what they really need is certainty. That’s the only way to ensure real and significant improvement to the education and care of Victorian kids,” Ms Mikakos said.

She said Premier Daniel Andrews would raise this issue at the Council of Australian Governments meeting in Canberra today.

The State Government funds 10 hours of kindergarten a week while the Federal Government funds the extra five hours, but the federal funding is not ongoing.

Early Childhood Education Minister Jenny Mikakos says the Federal Government is holding families to ransom by refusing to commit to ongoing pre-school funding. Picture: Steve Tanner

Early Learning Association Australia (ELAA) interim chief executive Tina Martin welcomed the $440m announcement but called on all levels of government to tackle the issue of ongoing funding, rather than relying on year-to-year extensions.

“A minimum of 15 hours a week of quality early learning has proven benefits for children’s performance once at school, lays the foundations to becoming a contributing citizen later in life, gives vulnerable children a chance to catch up, and provides long-term benefits for the national economy,” Ms Martin said.

“To harness these benefits we need to guarantee ongoing funding.”

Albert Park Preschool administration director Jenny Whelan said the uncertainty affected how kindergartens could plan and manage staff and timetables.

“The move from providing 12 hours to 15 hours was a big shift for us but it was a shift for the right reasons,” Ms Whelan said.

“There is a fear that it will be a step backwards if the funding doesn’t continue, or that the cost will add to fees and put pressure on families.”

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham says the government won’t give “blank cheques” to the State Government. Picture: David Mariuz

Miranda Schuppan, a mother of two from Albert Park, said she was pleased to hear the federal funding had been extended until the end of next year.

“I am in a financial position to ensure my children will go to kinder regardless of changes to government policy, but I can imagine a lot of families would have to opt out of kinder programs if they had to pay higher fees due to reduced government funding,” Ms Schuppan said.

Mr Birmingham said the recently announced funding provided certainty for families and preschools until the end of 2019.

Regarding his comments on pre-school attendance, he referred to ABS figures that about 70 per cent of children enrolled in dedicated pre-school were attending for the full 15 hours per week.

“We want to work with the states to make sure we can target those children at disadvantage, that we can lift those attendance rates, and that we can get over the next couple of years better data, better attendance, that can provide the basis to better structured pre-school arrangements for the long term,” he said.

“We know that early childhood education is very important and we know that, of course, it can provide the greatest benefits for children who may not be getting the stimulation or support that ideally they would at home.”

Ms Martin said there was already a lot being done to increase pre-school attendance rates in Victoria such as the Early Start Kindergarten and Pre-Purchased Places programs, along with the Kindergarten Fee Subsidy.